Atlanta Braves’ Top 10 Playoff Villains

10. Umpire Paul Emmel

2010 National League Divisional Series, Game 1.  October 7, 2010.

Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants.  Pac-Bell Park.

This series also has the distinction of being both one of the most closely contested in the history of playoff baseball and the last hurrah for Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox.

So naturally an egregious error decided the game.

An umpire’s error.

Buster Posey Was Out.

4th inning.  Derek Lowe on the mound for the Braves.  Whatever you may have thought about him in a Braves’ uniform, he held the Giants down this night against Tim Lincecum in his prime.

Lowe pitched into the 6th inning, giving up 4 hits and 4 walks, but nobody scored off of him.

Or at least… nobody should have.

In that fateful fourth, Posey singled through the left side.  While on first, Pat Burrell struck out on what may have been a hit-and-run attempt.  Brian McCann fired the ball – “high and wide” by one account – to Brooks Conrad at second base, who nonetheless applied the tag with Posey still at least a foot away from the second base bag.

Paul Emmel called him safe.

SFGate.com’s account of the game charitably acknowledges that Emmel – who doesn’t appear in any of the photos I’ve found of the play – apparently missed the call.

Remarkably, this play did not result in Bobby Cox getting thrown out of the game. SFGate reported that “Emmel said no Brave complained about the call.”  Memories are fuzzy on that point, but certainly Conrad had to know that he got the tag down in time.

Immediately after this non-call – which- Lowe struck out Juan Uribe, which should have ended the inning.

But with Posey still at second base for no particular reason, Pablo Sandoval was intentionally walked to allow Lowe to face Cody Ross.

As it turns out, the Braves should have walked Ross as well since Lincecum struck out to end the frame.  Unfortunately, Ross singled before that, bringing Posey safely home and giving the Giants the only run they needed in a 1-0 victory.

This one is ranked 10th for several reasons:

– It was Game 1 of the series.  While it set the tone for what was to come, it wasn’t the deciding game.

– The Braves mowed through most of their bullpen the rest of the way, so by the time Lincecum might have been removed (he went the distance for a 2 hit shutout while striking out 14), Atlanta would have been running out of arms quickly.

– Only Omar Infante and Brian McCann had hits (both doubles) that night.  In other words, the Braves could easily have lost the game regardless, since none of the San Francisco bullpen had been used.

– But of course we would have liked to had the chance.  After all, strange things happen in the playoffs, as Rick Ankiel proved with a sudden lightning bolt of a homer just 1 night later.

The rest of the series was also gut-wrenchingly close:  5-4 Atlanta in 11 innings, then 3-2 Giants, and 3-2 Giants again to win the best-of-five series 3 games to 1.  Thus this single run from this early blown call was important.

This also launched the “even year thing” that the Giants rode to the World Series – rising from this series to win it all here in 2010, plus 2012 and 2014 thereafter.

That’s what Giants’ fans will remember.

Braves’ fans will only recall that Posey was out.